In a Palm Beach house designed by Mimi McMakin and Ashley Sharpe, a chinoiserie pagoda by landscape designer Keith Williams is filled with Brown Jordan furniture that blends into the lattice. "It's an intimate spot where the owner can sit and look back at the house he loves so much," Sharpe says.

A swimming pool's clean lines highlight the natural charm of lush hydrangeas in this 1920s Shingle Style cottage in East Hampton, New York, designed by Robert Stilin.

7 of 15

Francesco Lagnese

Colorful Blooms

For a garden outside of her Hamptons cottage, designer Podge Bune chose roses for their scent and didn't worry about color. "I thought, 'Well, let's just have a riot.' I'm so bored with all white. But be warned. Roses are persnickety. I have to do a little nip and tuck every day."

8 of 15

Christopher Baker

Victorian Gazebo

Voluptuous 50-year-old wisteria vines drape a Victorian wire gazebo outside of a New York house designed by Robin Bell, with the assistance of landscape designer Deborah Nevins and architect Stephen Potters.

9 of 15

Simon Watson

Cloister Garden

The Cloister Garden in William Christie's 16th-century house in France features the classic rose Katharina Zeimet. "The garden is very personal and breaks all the rules," Christie says. "But I am immensely happy and proud of it. I spend as much time as I can here. I don't need to take vacations anywhere else."

10 of 15

Eric Piasecki

Garden Party

Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company designed an outdoor dining area perfect for entertaining in the backyard of this Florida house. The colorful garden is anchored by a Chiswick bench from Janus et Cie.

11 of 15

Simon Watson

Pear Trees Trellis

In Nashville, a new house with an old soul merges indoors with outdoors. On her front terrace, antiques dealer Jeannette Whitson designed a Charleston-inspired secret garden enclosed by pear trees espaliered on a trellis. An arched window adds architectural interest.

12 of 15

Christopher Baker

Courtyard Garden

Tucked into the backyard of Lynn Morgan's Savannah row house, the walled courtyard garden is a fragrant oasis lush with jasmine, hydrangeas, orange trees, and creeping fig. Antique bricks and boxwood define the form, and crushed oyster shells cover the ground. The 1950s iron table and antique French garden chairs are shaded by a Pottery Barn umbrella. Garden design by Marshall Stone.

13 of 15

Victoria Pearson

Back Garden Dining Area

Even though designer Myra Hoefer's Healdsburg, California, house had a small, lackluster lawn, she turned it into a pocket paradise. Her inspiration? What she saw while working in Paris. "I noticed that Parisians would turn balconies or pathways or little handkerchief-size terraces into these poetic spaces for lunch, drinks, dinner," she says. "Or someone would turn some nothing courtyard into an outdoor living room."

14 of 15

Victoria Pearson

Open-Air Courtyard

The front door of this oceanfront Los Angeles house opens to a surprising open-air courtyard. "The courtyard is the first room you enter, a sort of vestibule — it just happens to be outside," Designer Chris Barrett says. "It's a sheltered haven with clusters of antique pots and lush plants and flowers, and it feels so good, so calm and nurturing. It was the first space I really tackled, kind of like a springboard for serenity."

15 of 15

Simon Upton

Rustic Gazebo

A stone faux-bois dining table from France and an iron gazebo from Anthropologie sit at the end of designer Jill Sharp Brinson's gravel driveway in her cottage house. "The gazebo was on display at a mall store in Atlanta, and I lusted after it for years," she says. "One day I was there shopping and I saw a 'for sale' tag on it. I bought it on the spot."

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Town & Country participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.